'Health insurance scheme extended to 6 cr BPL families'

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is being extended to all 6 crore BPL families in the country during the current financial year, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.     

Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat said a smartcard-based cashless health insurance cover of Rs 30,000 per year under the scheme has been already provided to over 49 lakh families in 18 states till June 30 this year.     

In all, 25 states have initiated moves to implement it, he added.     

In a written reply, the Minister said Kerala has topped the list by issuing over 9.77 lakh smartcards till the end of last month.     

Under the scheme, the premium of the insurance cover is being shared by the Centre and the state governments in the ratio of 75:25. In case of North eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio is 90:10, he added.     

To a question on whether the government proposes to review the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, the minister added a task force has been constituted to revisit the provisions of the Act. The task force is scheduled to meet on July 17 in this regard, he said.